Welcome to LALos Angeles is a city carved out of the desert – a conjured image of paradise. These are the stories of people who learn what lies beyond the dream – yacht parties with theremin makers that end on the rocks, low-budget filmmaking that blurs the line between truth and fiction, movie stars and Hollywood hopefuls whose stories seem too crazy to be true. Welcome to Los Angeles.

Lost NotesThe greatest music stories never told. Explore the amazing stories of how 60s rock hit “Louie, Louie” triggered an FBI investigation, the outlaw Brooklyn radio station WBAD that tracked the rise of 90s hip hop, and the man who went from Folsom Prison inmate to Johnny Cash’s bandmate.

To the PointA weekly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

FROM THIS EPISODE

Marijuana is still prohibited under federal law, but President Obama calls it no worse than alcohol. In fact, red states are among those on the way to medical use and decriminalization. We hear about the shifting politics of the war on drugs. Also, Ukraine's prime minister resigns, and remembering Pete Seeger.

Texas Governor Rick Perry (C) participates in a panel on 'The Drugs Dilemma' at the 2014 World Economic Forum. Photo courtesy of World Economic Forum

Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovych has accepted the resignation of his prime minister — effectively dismissing his entire cabinet. Parliament has abolished anti-dissident legislation that led to a failed police crackdown. But those concessions are not enough for the street protesters who've seized government buildings in Kiev and in the rest of the country. Christopher Miller is an editor with the English-language Kyiv Post.

International statesmen and some law enforcement officials have long declared that the "War on Drugs" is a failure. American politics appear to be catching up. Last week, after President Obama told the New Yorker magazine that pot was no worse than alcohol, there was an almost deafening silence from Republican critics. In fact, GOP Governors Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry are talking up medical use and decriminalization, as even red states get on the bandwagon. Polls show more than half of Americans favor outright legalization, although even some long-time critics of the war on drugs warn that's going too far, and the Obama Administration is speaking with more than once voice. We look at the fast-changing, increasingly complicated politics of marijuana.

In the 1950's, Pete Seeger was convicted of Contempt of Congress. In 2008, he performed at the Lincoln Memorial for Barack Obama's presidential inauguration. Last night, the man who led the revival of American folk music, became a musical spokesman for social change and an iconic figure in both music and politics died at the age of 94. David King Dunaway is an oral historian and radio producer whose many books include, How Can I Keep from Singing?, a biography of Pete Seeger, published in 1981 and updated in 2008.